How to pronounce “triathlon”
Say “triathlon” in 3 beats
triathlon
/tɹaɪˈæθlɑn/
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /tɹaɪˈaθlən/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- tɹaɪtɹaɪ
- ææstress
- θlɑnθlɑn
- IPA (American)
- /tɹaɪˈæθlɑn/
- IPA (British)
- /tɹaɪˈaθlən/
- Respelling
- try-ATH-lon
- Syllables
- 3 — tɹaɪ-Æ-θlɑn
- Stress
- Stress the second syllable: tɹaɪ-Æ-θlɑn. “æ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
/tɹaɪˈæθlɑn/
/tɹaɪˈaθlən/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “triathlon” goes wrong
- Often heard
“try-ATH-uh-lon”
three syllables: no vowel between the th and the l
What “triathlon” means
- noun
an endurance race with three stages — swimming, cycling and running — done one after the other
“She trains for a triathlon every summer.”
Say it in a sentence
“He finished his first triathlon at the age of fifty.”“triathlon”, answered
How do you pronounce “triathlon”?
“triathlon” is pronounced /tɹaɪˈæθlɑn/ (try-ATH-lon) in American English and /tɹaɪˈaθlən/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “æ”. Build it as tɹaɪ-Æ-θlɑn, then run the second syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “triathlon” have?
3: tɹaɪ · æ · θlɑn. The beat lands on the second, “æ”. Read letter by letter it looks like 4 (try-ATH-uh-lon), and that careful version is not wrong — but ordinary speech runs it to 3.
Is “triathlon” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /tɹaɪˈæθlɑn/ (try-ATH-lon); British English says /tɹaɪˈaθlən/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “triathlon” mean?
As a noun: an endurance race with three stages — swimming, cycling and running — done one after the other For example: “She trains for a triathlon every summer.”
Where is the stress in “triathlon”?
Stress the second syllable: tɹaɪ-Æ-θlɑn. “æ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “triathlon” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.